When it was announced in June that former 2017 first-round pick Takkarist “Takk” McKinley was invited to the New York Jets’ mandatory minicamp on a tryout basis, it was an afterthought in the news cycle.
McKinley did not play any games in 2023. He only played four games in 2022. He has not recorded a sack since 2021. Despite his draft pedigree and name recognition, it had seemed like McKinley’s days as a legitimate NFL rotation player were behind him.
That no longer seems to be the case.
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McKinley impressed the Jets enough to earn a contract with the team; he was the only player to do that among the six who tried out. After that, the 28-year-old began turning heads as one of the top defensive standouts in training camp.
Two preseason games later, McKinley has put himself in a phenomenal position to make the Jets’ roster. He has arguably been the team’s best defensive player across the first two exhibition contests.
McKinley is doing it all for the Jets. He is exploding off the line of scrimmage, as his average pass-rush get-off time of 0.71 seconds is the sixth-best mark among 153 qualified edge rushers this preseason. McKinley is translating that explosiveness into production, as his 25.0% pass-rush win rate is also tied for sixth-best (knotting him up with Will McDonald).
Takk McKinley looked very explosive off the line in his #Jets debut pic.twitter.com/1g4S2MgpfR
— Michael Nania (@Michael_Nania) August 16, 2024
Tak McKinley (left edge) and Jalyn Holmes (right edge) both with clean wins but the QB gets rid of the ball quick.
Tak wins with good snap timing and burst.
Holmes wins with a good inside stem and chop on the outside arm paired with an extended left to soften the edge. pic.twitter.com/PEyhPSVwN9
— Joe Blewett (@Joerb31) August 18, 2024
Explosive pass-rushing has always been McKinley’s calling card, but what the Jets did not expect to get from him was stout run defense. McKinley has earned a run defense grade of 76.5 at Pro Football Focus, which ranks 11th out of 150 qualified edge rushers. The film backs it up.
Been seeing the explosion from Tak McKinley (left edge #93) in the pass but he made some plays in the run as well. Good edge set here + the shed.
Barnes fills the b-gap for the tackle. pic.twitter.com/CL4ApQXPGP
— Joe Blewett (@Joerb31) August 18, 2024
Another play in the run game from McKinley (right edge) pic.twitter.com/XJVVoDIaBL
— Joe Blewett (@Joerb31) August 18, 2024
While there is still one game left for McKinley to sustain this production, it would seem that he has already shown enough to earn a spot on the Jets’ 53-man roster. He is displaying everything the Jets love in an edge rusher: explosiveness off the line, speed up the field, bendiness around the corner, and the ability to win consistently as a pass rusher.
On top of that, he has provided the best run support among the Jets’ edge rushers – by a wide margin. Here are the PFF run defense grades of the Jets’ edge rushers through two preseason games:
- Takk McKinley: 76.5 (11th of 150 EDGE)
- Micheal Clemons: 53.8 (99th)
- Eric Watts: 48.9 (124th)
- Will McDonald: 46.0 (133rd)
- Braiden McGregor: 30.0 (149th)
Couple that with the best pass rushing efficiency among the group, and McKinley has been far-and-away the Jets’ best edge rusher this preseason. Here are the pass-rush win rates of the Jets’ edge rushers through two preseason games:
- Takk McKinley: 25.0% (6th of 153 EDGE)
- Will McDonald: 25.0% (6th)
- Braiden McGregor: 24.1% (11th)
- Micheal Clemons: 15.4% (43rd)
- Eric Watts: 11.5% (69th)
With the Jets’ defensive line depth looking thin compared to last year – even if Haason Reddick is present, but especially if he is not – it is hard to find a reason why the Jets should not keep McKinley.
Perhaps it could be argued the Jets should keep a younger player, but the Jets are a win-now team, making McKinley appealing. There is not a bubble player at another position who offers a better chance of contributing in 2024 than McKinley.
By now, making the 53-man roster seems likely for McKinley. However, I would argue that his ascension should not stop there.
McKinley should be a key part of the Jets’ edge rotation. I’m talking as high as No. 4 behind Jermaine Johnson, Haason Reddick, and Will McDonald.
Go ahead and laugh. Just answer this question: Beyond the aforementioned three players, which edge rusher on this roster deserves a larger role than McKinley?
Most of the competitors are undrafted free agents who have failed to stand out much in the preseason. The only veteran competing against McKinley is Micheal Clemons.
Besides punching Panthers players, what has Clemons done to stand out this summer? In what area does he hold an advantage over McKinley?
The argument in favor of Clemons is that his size advantage makes him a better fit to set the edge on run downs. However, size isn’t everything when it comes to run-stopping on the edge.
This preseason, Clemons has struggled with making reads on the edge. He’s conceded edge-contain multiple times by biting on play fakes. Plus, he whiffed badly on an unblocked tackle attempt.
It hasn’t been all bad; Clemons has shown the ability to use his size and strength to overwhelm tight ends in the run game, which is the main strength he has shown in the regular season. Regardless, there are costly drawbacks to his physical makeup. He severely lacks agility, making him susceptible to any edge-threatening play toward the sideline, such as the two zone reads we saw above.
Clemons is only capable of moving in one direction; there is no change-of-direction ability in his game. He gets stuck in mud if he has to pivot. This is not ideal for a Jets team that will be competing for a division title against the Miami Dolphins, who arguably have the most dangerous horizontal run game in football. Clemons is an easy target for Miami’s outside zone scheme.
Despite his smaller frame, McKinley has used his athletic advantage to be a much more productive run defender than Clemons this preseason. The two clips shown earlier in this article displayed that McKinley can use his athleticism to make rangy plays down the line of scrimmage, which is ideal against a horizonal rushing attack like Miami’s.
Yes, it’s only preseason, but both players are going up against the same inferior competition. To be fair, Clemons is typically playing earlier in games than McKinley, so his competition might be slightly better. Still, Clemons has mostly faced backups, and not only has he failed to dominate them as McKinley has, but he is frequently losing his reps against them.
Even if McKinley’s run defense is a wash compared to Clemons, that still makes him an immensely more valuable player, because the pass rushing is no contest.
Clemons is one of the worst pass rushers off the edge in the NFL. In 2023, Clemons’ 5.1% pressure rate ranked 113th out of 115 qualified edge rushers. He had eight pressures in 16 games despite playing 157 pass-rush snaps, nearly 10 opportunities per game. Yet, Clemons pressured the quarterback once every two games.
Some might argue that Clemons’ pass rushing struggles can be hidden by using him solely in running situations. The fallacy in that logic is that, no matter how much a team tries to limit a defender to rushing situations, he is still going to face passing plays on a frequent basis.
There is no such thing as an obvious running situation in today’s NFL – at best, it’s 60-40. The Jets did use Clemons in the single most run-heavy role among edge rushers last year, and he still faced a passing play on 43% of his defensive snaps. That was the lowest rate among 115 qualified edge rushers.
It hurts immensely when an edge rusher is as bad at getting after the quarterback as Clemons is. That would be the case even if he were the best run defender in the league. But considering that his run defense is, at best, hardly better than average, it makes him a major liability whenever he is on the field.
That brings us back to McKinley. Yes, he has only showed out in training camp and the preseason so far. Yes, he is still a player who hasn’t sacked a quarterback since 2021.
But McKinley has already displayed a pass-rush ceiling that is leaps and bounds above anything Clemons has ever displayed in his NFL career. Even in his most recent full season (2022), McKinley posted a pressure rate of 11.7%, which is about equal to the 2023 positional average (11.6%). League-average is lightyears ahead of Clemons.
While there are questions about what McKinley truly has left in the tank at this point (despite his success in two short preseason appearances), the Jets’ defensive system is perfect for maximizing his skill set. It is not hard to picture him returning to the level of a league-average edge rusher in this system.
McKinley is an explosive athlete who has struggled with refining his package of moves. You can even see that this preseason; most of his wins are speed rushes or speed-to-power moves. Fortunately, New York’s aggressive scheme is ideal for utilizing what he does well. At the very least, McKinley’s explosiveness will command plenty of attention in obvious passing situations, which should help to open up blitzers and other pass rushers.
On a team that counts on its linemen to fly up the field like bats out of hell – relying on the linebackers to clean up the mess behind them – the rushers must at least cause havoc, even if they do not make the play themselves. McKinley can do that. Players who cannot at least move the pocket are a huge liability in this system, and that is the category Clemons falls into.
On top of that, McKinley’s run defense looks like it should be at least similar to Clemons’, if not better – and it’s also a better fit to stop a division rival whose offense gave New York more problems than any other team last year.
Some might argue that Clemons (drafted 2022) has more upside than McKinley (drafted 2017). The reality is that, despite the five-year draft gap, McKinley (born November 1995) is less than two years older than Clemons (born August 1997).
Clemons does not have much, if any, untapped upside left in the tank. McKinley does not have untapped upside, either, but he has already shown he can be a league-average edge rusher, and he looks poised to replicate that based on the rejuvenated energy he has shown this summer and his fit in this defensive scheme.
Takk McKinley has earned his spot on the Jets’ roster, and if the team is smart, they will place him above Clemons on the depth chart, too. An ideal scheme fit with the upside to provide league-average play, McKinley has the ceiling of about as good of a fourth edge rusher as you could realistically hope for. Clemons does not have that ceiling.
